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Jonathan Melle

I turned 39 (2014)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

US Senator Byron Dorgan: "So many corporations make big profits and pay nothing to support our country!"

"Half of all business income in the United States now ends up going through the individual tax code," Edwards said.

The GAO study did not investigate why corporations weren't paying federal income taxes or corporate taxes and it did not identify any corporations by name. It said companies may escape paying such taxes due to operating losses or because of tax credits.

More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax, the GAO said. Combined, the companies had $2.5 trillion in sales. About 25 percent of the U.S. corporations not paying corporate taxes were considered large corporations, meaning they had at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in receipts.

The GAO said it analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service, examining samples of corporate returns for the years 1998 through 2005. For 2005, for example, it reviewed 110,003 tax returns from among more than 1.2 million corporations doing business in the U.S.

Dorgan and Levin have complained about companies abusing transfer prices — amounts charged on transactions between companies in a group, such as a parent and subsidiary. In some cases, multinational companies can manipulate transfer prices to shift income from higher to lower tax jurisdictions, cutting their tax liabilities. The GAO did not suggest which companies might be doing this.

"It's time for the big corporations to pay their fair share," Dorgan said.

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Source: abcnews.go.com/Business
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On the Net:

Government Accountability Office: http://www.gao.gov

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"What the Top U.S. Companies Pay in Taxes"
by Christopher Helman - Forbes.com - April 2, 2010

As you work on your taxes this month, here's something to raise your hackles: Some of the world's biggest, most profitable corporations enjoy a far lower tax rate than you do -- that is, if they pay taxes at all.

The most egregious example is General Electric (NYSE: GE - News). Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.

Avoiding taxes is nothing new for General Electric. In 2008 its effective tax rate was 5.3%; in 2007 it was 15%. The marginal U.S. corporate rate is 35%.

How did this happen? It's complicated. GE's tax return is the largest the IRS deals with each year -- some 24,000 pages if printed out. Its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission weighs in at more than 700 pages.

Inside you'll find that GE in effect consists of two divisions: General Electric Capital and everything else. The everything else -- maker of engines, power plants, TV shows and the like -- would have paid a 22% tax rate if it was a standalone company.

It's GE Capital that keeps the overall tax bill so low. Over the last two years, GE Capital has displayed an uncanny ability to lose lots of money in the U.S. (posting a $6.5 billion loss in 2009), and make lots of money overseas (a $4.3 billion gain). Not only do the U.S. losses balance out the overseas gains, but GE can defer taxes on that overseas income indefinitely. The timing of big deductions for depreciation in GE Capital's equipment leasing business also provides a tax benefit, as will loan losses left over from the credit crunch.

But it's the tax benefit of overseas operations that is the biggest reason why multinationals end up with lower tax rates than the rest of us. It only makes sense that multinationals "put costs in high-tax countries and profits in low-tax countries," says Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation. Those low-tax countries are almost anywhere but the U.S. "When you add in state taxes, the U.S. has the highest tax burden among industrialized countries," says Hodge. In contrast, China's rate is just 25%; Ireland's is 12.5%.

Corporations are getting smarter, not just about doing more business in low-tax countries, but in moving their more valuable assets there as well. That means setting up overseas subsidiaries, then transferring to them ownership of long-lived, often intangible but highly profitable assets, like patents and software.

As a result, figures tax economist Martin Sullivan, companies are keeping some $28 billion a year out of the clutches of the U.S. Treasury by engaging in so-called transfer pricing arrangements, where, say, Microsoft's (NYSE: MSFT - News) overseas subsidiaries license software to its U.S. parent company in return for handsome royalties (that get taxed at those lower overseas rates).

"Corporations are paying lower amounts of their profits in taxes now than in the past," says Douglas Schackelford, who teaches tax law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Other countries have been lowering their rates, but not the U.S."

Mind you, not all global megacorps enjoy such low tax rates. Try to muster some pity for Big Oil. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM - News) paid more income taxes than any other U.S. company last year, some $15 billion, or 47% of pretax earnings. Exxon's peers Chevron (NYSE: CVX - News) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP - News) likewise paid out more than half their earnings in income taxes. The oil companies are oddities among the multinationals because many of the oil-rich countries where they do business levy even higher taxes than the U.S.

Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas.

Likewise, GE has $84 billion in overseas income parked indefinitely outside the U.S.

Naturally the Obama administration wants to put an end to this. It has proposed doing away with tax deferrals on overseas income. If the plan passes, a U.S. company that pays a 25% tax on profits in China would have to pay an additional 10% income tax to Uncle Sam to bring it up to the 35% corporate rate. "Eliminating deferrals would put U.S. companies on an unlevel playing field," says the Tax Foundation's Hodge, "especially if competing with the likes of Germany, which only taxes companies on domestic operations."

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ - News) and others among the top 25 state in their annual reports that if Obama's tax measures pass it would mean a certain tax hike, probably amounting to billions of dollars.

Would no more tax holiday for GE really end up helping Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer? Doubtful. "The average Joe should be in favor of lower corporate taxes," says Hodge, "because ultimately they are paying the corporate income tax. Either as workers, getting lower wages and fewer jobs, or as consumers, paying higher prices, or as retirees, getting lower dividends and earnings on their investments."

In the same vein, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM - News) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has spoken out against an Obama proposal to levy a special tax on banks to recoup bailout costs. "Using tax policy to punish people is a bad idea," said Dimon. "All businesses tend to pass costs on to customers."

No. 4: General Electric
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Sales: $157 billion
Pretax income: $10.3 billion
Income taxes: (-$1.1 billion)
Tax rate: N/A
How Can It Be That You Pay More to the IRS Than General Electric?
GE's financial services unit, GE Capital, keeps the overall tax bill so low. Over the last two years, GE Capital has displayed an uncanny ability to lose lots of money in the U.S. and make lots of money overseas, where tax rates are lower.

No. 7: Bank of America
(David McNew/Getty Images)
Sales: $120 billion
Pretax income: $4.4 billion
Income taxes: (-$1.9 billion)
Tax rate: N/A
How did Bank of America not pay any taxes on $4.4 billion in income? Because of deductions like $860 million in tax-exempt income, $670 million in low-income housing credits and a $600 million loss on shares of foreign subsidiaries. With a provision for credit losses of $49 billion, Bank of America probably won't be paying taxes for a long time.

As Washington worries about the United States' growing deficit problem, there's mounting evidence the government is failing to collect taxes from wealthy individuals and corporations. A piece in today's New York Times by David Kocieniewski outlines how G.E. skirted paying any taxes on $5.1 billion in profits in 2010--in addition to claiming a $3.2 billion tax credit.

The main reason G.E. is so adept at avoiding paying taxes, Kocieniewski writes, is because it's compiled an all-star team of in-house tax professionals plucked from the Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury Department, and "virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress."

G.E.-- whose slogan is "Imagination at Work"-- has in-house, Kocieniewski writes, what is considered by many to be the best tax law firm in the world. Their secret to success is a familiar one, though G.E. appears to have perfected it: "fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore."

Writes Kocieniewski:

In a regulatory filing just a week before the Japanese disaster put a spotlight on the company's nuclear reactor business, G.E. reported that its tax burden was 7.4 percent of its American profits, about a third of the average reported by other American multinationals. Even those figures are overstated, because they include taxes that will be paid only if the company brings its overseas profits back to the United States. With those profits still offshore, G.E. is effectively getting money back.

Such strategies, as well as changes in tax laws that encouraged some businesses and professionals to file as individuals, have pushed down the corporate share of the nation's tax receipts — from 30 percent of all federal revenue in the mid-1950s to 6.6 percent in 2009.

In an interesting twist, President Obama recently asked G.E. CEO Jeffrey Immelt to be
his chief outside economic adviser, and the company recently came under fire for being the manufacturer of the faulty reactors that sparked Japan's nuclear crisis in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

(Photo: Paul Sakuma/AP)

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"GE: No taxes and a refund"
The Berkshire Eagle, Editorial, March 28, 2011

Taxpayers sweating out the approaching filing deadline may be interested in knowing that General Electric has filed its paperwork and is claiming what amounts to a $3.2 billion refund in the form of a tax credit. Even though it did not pay any federal taxes in 2010.

The nation’s largest corporation benefits from something the average taxpayer does not -- the best tax department money can buy. According to David Kocieniewski of the New York Times, that team includes former officials of the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department, as well as aides to members of the congressional committees who wrote the tax codes. No wonder the federal government ends up owing GE money.

GE is also able to avoid U.S. taxes by focusing its profitable ventures offshore, which is also not an option for most taxpayers. Again according to The Times, GE’s accumulated offshore profits have risen from $15 billion to $92 billion in the past 10 years. Over that same period of time, GE has eliminated 20 percent of its American work force. At a time when America desperately needs jobs and investment, GE is providing both in foreign countries and not even paying U.S. taxes. (Ironically, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt heads President Obama’s newly formed Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.)

The ability of GE, and to a lesser extent other multinational corporations, to exploit tax loopholes, credits, subsidies, shelters and foreign tax laws to avoid providing desperately needed revenue to the American treasury is the latest of a long list of arguments for reform of corporate tax laws. GE’s lobbyists, however, are as gifted and well-connected as are its tax lawyers, so reform is unlikely. One thing Democrats and Republicans have in common is their susceptibility to lobbyists.

In the months ahead, much will be said about various proposals to clean up PCBs left in the Housatonic River by General Electric. Let it not be said, however, that GE cannot afford a cleanup.

As the New Yorker's former press critic, A.J. Liebling, famously said, "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Perhaps that quotation is framed somewhere in a boardroom at the General Electric Corp., which owns NBC News.

In spite of robust profits of $14.2 billion worldwide, GE has calculated a corporate tax bill for 2010 that adds up to zero, via a creative series of tax referrals and revenue shifts. (This was, indeed, the second year running that the company—which has an enormous, and famously nimble, 975-employee tax division, led by former Treasury official John Samuels—paid nothing in U.S. taxes; indeed by claiming a series of losses and deductions, GE came up with a negative tax of 10.5 percent in the admittedly dismal business year of 2009, and realized a $1.5 billion "tax benefit.")

The curious thing about this year's tax story is that it turned up in many major news outlets, with one key exception: NBC News. As the Washington Post's Paul Farhi notes, the network's "Nightly News" broadcast, hosted by Brian Williams, has not mentioned anything about its corporate parent's resourceful accounting, even though the story has been in wide circulation in the business and general-interest press for nearly a week. "This was a straightforward news decision, the kind we make daily around here" network spokeswoman Lauren Kapp told the Post.

One press critic who begs to differ: Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who noted that the Nightly News found the time for a dispatch on the inclusion of slang expressions in the Oxford English Dictionary, such as "LOL" and "OMG." Of course, Comedy Central's corporate parent, Viacom, is also no slouch when it comes to tax strategy: Earlier this year it sold its struggling videogame unit Harmonix for $50—so that it could claim a tax credit of $50 million.

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"Some U.S. firms paid more to CEOs than taxes: study"
By Nanette Byrnes | Reuters – August 31, 2011

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies paid in federal income tax, a pay study by a Washington think tank said on Wednesday.

At a time when lawmakers are facing tough choices in a quest to slash the national debt, the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning group, said it also found many of the companies spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes.

The senior Democrat on the House of Representatives oversight committee, Elijah Cummings, called for hearings on executive compensation "to examine the extent to which the problems in CEO compensation that led to the economic crisis continue to exist today."

Several companies mentioned in the report took issue with its methodology and said they paid all taxes owed.

General Electric spokesman Andrew Williams called the study "inaccurate" and noted it did not include significant income taxes paid in 2010 for previous years, or state taxes paid. "GE pays what it owes," he wrote in an e-mail response to questions.

Boeing spokesman Chaz Bickers said the study is "simply wrong".

Instead of Boeing's reported "U.S. federal current tax expense" of $13 million which the IPS used, he said a better approximation of the company's taxes paid would be the $360 million it reported as its net income tax payments, most of which, he says, was federal.

"On federal cash tax payments last year we paid in the hundreds of millions," Bickers told Reuters. The company also received a $371 million credit from the government last year for overpayment of taxes in the past, and has added 5,000 U.S. jobs this year Bickers says, in part because of Federal tax breaks.

The institute compared CEO pay to current U.S. taxes paid, excluding foreign and state and local taxes that may have been paid, as well as deferred taxes which can often be far larger than current taxes paid.

The group's rationale was that U.S. taxes paid are the closest approximation in public documents to what companies may have actually written a check for last year. It said deferred taxes may or may not be paid.

The accounting used in SEC filings differs from the accounting used to tally what's owed on a corporate tax return. Neither the IPS number nor the figure cited by Boeing exactly equals the check written to the IRS, says Scott Dyreng, an assistant professor at Duke's Fuqua School of Business who studies corporate taxes, and though companies could disclose that figure, don't have to and don't do so.

$16.7 MILLION AVERAGE

Compensation for the 25 CEOs with pay surpassing corporate taxes averaged $16.7 million, according to the study, compared to a $10.8 million average for S&P 500 CEOs. Among the companies topping the IPS list:

* eBay whose CEO John Donahoe made $12.4 million, but which reported a $131 million refund on its 2010 current U.S. taxes.

* Boeing, which paid CEO Jim McNerney $13.8 million, sent in $13 million in federal income taxes, and spent $20.8 million on lobbying and campaign spending

* General Electric where CEO Jeff Immelt earned $15.2 million in 2010, while the company got a $3.3 billion federal refund and invested $41.8 million in its own lobbying and political campaigns.

Though the companies come from different industries, their tax breaks fall into two primary areas.

Two-thirds of the firms studied kept their taxes low by utilizing offshore subsidiaries in tax havens such as Bermuda, Singapore and Luxembourg. The remaining companies benefited from accelerated depreciation.

Shareholders have responded favorably when companies in which they invest keep a tax bill low through legal methods, thereby benefiting earnings. But Chuck Collins, an IPS senior scholar and co-author of the report, said that is a mistake.

"I think it's an exposure of weakness in a company if their profitability is dependent on their accounting department and not on making better widgets," he said.

In prior reports, Collins said, out-sized CEO pay was often a red flag of bigger problems to come. The IPS has been putting a pay report together for 18 years. Among those whose leaders have made the high pay list in years past, only to have their businesses falter: Tyco, Enron and WorldCom.

"Corporate Tax Dodgers: 10 Companies and Their Tax Loopholes"
By Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger and Javier Rojo, April 17, 2013 by Institute for Policy Studies

As the budget battles in Washington continue, corporations have stepped into the fray with some of the most aggressive lobbying we’ve seen in years – calling for cuts to corporate tax rates, a widening of offshore tax loopholes that already cost the U.S. Treasury $90 billion a year, and cuts to government services and benefits, including Social Security and Medicare.

In making their case, corporate executives decry the U.S.’s 35% corporate tax rate claiming it is the highest in the world and makes their businesses uncompetitive globally. The evidence suggests otherwise.

Corporate profits are at a 60-year high, while corporate taxes are near a 60-year low. U.S. stock markets are at record levels, and American CEOs are paid far more than executives who run firms of similar size in other nations. Many U.S. corporations pay a higher tax rate to foreign governments than they do here at home.

America’s 35% tax rate is the highest among industrialized nations, but very few companies pay anything like those rates. Total corporate federal taxes paid fell to 12.1% of U.S. profits in 2011, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The average profitable company in the Fortune 500 paid just 18.5% of its profits in federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, a nonpartisan tax research organization. Dozens of large and profitable companies paid nothing in recent years.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 10 CORPORATE TAX DODGERS

Bank of America
Had $17.2 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Reported it would owe $4.3 billion in U.S. taxes if profits are brought home.

Citigroup
Had $42.6 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Reported it would owe $11.5 billion in U.S. taxes if profits are brought home.

ExxonMobil
Paid just a 15% federal income tax rate from 2010-2012, less than half the official 35% corporate tax rate – a tax subsidy of $6.2 billion. Had $43 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes.

FedEx
Made $5.7 billion from 2010-2012 and didn’t pay a dime in federal income taxes. Got a tax subsidy of $2.1 billion. Received $10.3 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

General Electric
Made $88 billion from 2002-2012 and paid just 2.4% in taxes for a tax subsidy of $29 billion. Paid no taxes in 4 years. Had $108 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Received $21.8 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

Honeywell
Made $5 billion from 2009-2012 and paid just $50 million in federal income taxes – a tax subsidy of $1.7 billion. Had $11.6 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Received $16.7 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

Merck
Made $13.6 billion and paid $2.5 billion in federal income taxes from 2009-2012. Paid an 18.4% federal income tax rate, half the official 35% rate – a tax subsidy of $2.2 billion. Had $53.4 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Received $8.7 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

Microsoft
Saved $4.5 billion in federal income taxes from 2009-2011 by transferring profits to a subsidiary in the tax haven of Puerto Rico. Had $60.8 billion in profits stashed offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes; reported it would owe $19.4 billion if profits are brought home.

Pfizer
Received $2.2 billion in federal tax refunds from 2010-2012 while earning $43 billion worldwide even though 40% of its sales are in America. Had $73 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. income taxes. Received $3.4 billion in federal contracts from 2010-2012.

Verizon
Made $19.3 billion in U.S. pretax profits from 2008-2012 but paid no federal income taxes during the period; instead got $535 million in tax rebates. Total tax subsidy: $7.3 billion. Received up to $6 billion in federal contracts from 2011 through 2023.

Fixing the Game, Designing the Rules

CEOs who are the face of various corporate pro-austerity, anti-tax campaigns with names like Fix the Debt, The LIFT America Coalition, The RATE Coalition and even the long-standing Business Roundtable, preach a theory that cutting corporate taxes is “pro-growth.” But they neglect to say that the growth is of their corporate bottom lines, not the economy and certainly not social well-being.

Though many of these austerity crusaders have corporate retirement plans that will provide tens- and even hundreds of thousands of dollars PER MONTH in their retirement, these CEOs shamelessly argue for cutting monthly Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age to 70 – which automatically reduces seniors’ retirement benefits by 20%.

It wasn’t always this way. There was a time, not so long ago, when America’s largest businesses did not question the need for taxes to pay for investments in education, infrastructure and basic research that benefited businesses and citizens alike. It was from these investments that things like computers, the Internet and life-saving drugs and medical technology emerged in life-changing ways.

In 1952, under Republican President Dwight D Eisenhower, corporate income taxes were nearly a third of the federal government’s receipts but had declined to less than 10% by 2012. This is due to a corporate tax code riddled with loopholes, perks and preferences won by corporate lobbyists and backed by millions of dollars of campaign gifts to Members of Congress.

This report looks at 10 U.S. corporations that have used an array of tax loopholes and corporate subsidies to slash their tax bills. Here are a few of the loopholes and subsidies:

The offshore tax loophole. This gaping loophole costs the U.S. Treasury $90 billion a year by letting corporations ship profits and jobs overseas. It was originally established to encourage U.S. multinational corporations to expand their businesses into other countries; for instance, to encourage car manufacturers to build plants and sell cars in Germany or England. If profits from those sales were reinvested in new and better plants overseas, that money would not be subject to U.S. income taxes. But starting a couple of decades ago, corporate tax attorneys and accountants found ways to stretch this concept and set up ways for companies to register intellectual property, such as patents or trademarks, in low-tax nations, called tax havens.

When a product is sold in America, a chunk of the purchase price is sent to the tax haven to pay for use of the patent, and these funds escape U.S. taxes. One of the companies profiled in this report is Microsoft, which sends 47 cents of every U.S. sales dollar to Puerto Rico to pay for patents on discoveries largely made in the United States. Pfizer has turned these tax-avoiding paper transactions into an art form – it sells 40% of its drugs here but hasn’t reported any U.S. profits in five years. Merck and Citigroup also benefit from offshore tax loopholes.

The excessive CEO pay tax dodge. This loophole was created in 1993 when Congress passed legislation seeking to cap the deductibility of executive compensation to no more than $1 million per year per executive. Companies could continue to pay whatever they wanted, taxpayers just wouldn’t be subsidizing more than the first $1 million per executive. As the bill moved through Congress, a loophole was inserted that exempted all pay considered to be “performance based.” Rather than reining in pay, the effect of the law with the loophole intact was an explosion of stock-based compensation. This loophole costs the U.S. Treasury $8 billion a year. Honeywell is one of the company’s profiled that has used this loophole to save on its taxes.

The corporate malfeasance tax dodge. When you get a parking ticket or a speeding ticket, come tax day you are out of luck because such fines are not tax deductible. But if you are a corporation, the costs of corporate crimes and abuse are most often tax deductible, in effect forcing other taxpayers to subsidize their abusive behavior. When Bank of America paid to settle claims that its foreclosure practices violated the rights of customers who lost their homes or when ExxonMobil paid $1.1 billion to settle claims for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, their tax deductions of these costs meant the rest of us picked up some of the tab for their harmful practices.

The paying business to do what it would do anyway tax subsidy. Several companies profiled were able to sharply cut their taxes by taking advantage of special tax write-offs associated with the 2009 stimulus bill. Corporations have long been allowed to deduct a portion of the cost of their property and equipment over the life of the asset. But the 2009 law allowed companies to immediately write-off 50% of the value of the equipment in the year the purchase was made, regardless of how long the equipment was expected to last. While the intent of the legislation was to get businesses to spend more to stimulate the economy, in reality most companies got enormous tax breaks for doing what they were going to do anyway. FedEx and Verizon are big beneficiaries of this subsidy as they buy aircraft and build cell phone towers.

Bank Bailout, round 2. America’s taxpayers spent more than $2 trillion to bailout America’s financial institutions during the recent banking crisis. But the terms of the bailout did not address whether the financial institutions involved could use the losses incurred during the crisis to reduce their taxes for years to come, in effect, giving them a second bailout. Bank of America used its losses as a get-out-of-taxes free card. Many other banks and financial institutions did the same.

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

There are two bills in Congress that would close some of these loopholes and ensure that some companies pay their fair share of taxes.

The Cut Unjustified Tax Loopholes Act (S. 268, introduced by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)) would close offshore loopholes by establishing command and control provisions that would treat foreign subsidiaries controlled from America as U.S businesses for tax purposes. It would also end some of the deductions corporations presently enjoy from stock-option based pay of corporate executives, and close some of the oil and gas subsidies in the tax code.

The Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act (S. 250, introduced by Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and H.R. 694, introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)) would end the current practice of deferral that allows companies to avoid taxes on offshore profits, both those earned offshore and those shifted there through accounting gimmicks. This bill would tax the global profits of U.S. corporations and provide for a 100% foreign tax credit for any taxes paid to foreign governments. It would raise $590 billion over ten years according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

There is widespread and growing public opinion among the American public and the small business community that corporate tax loopholes need to be closed so we have the money to invest in a more promising future. This support is seen across the political spectrum. Corporate tax dodging is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue, it is an American issue. The American people are saying it is long past time that corporations step up and pay their fair share to fix the debt and assure that our country has sufficient public investment to create opportunities for all to succeed in their life, their liberty and the pursuit of happiness for them and their families.
~Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project of the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive multi-issue think tank, in Washington DC. She’s also the co-author of the IPS report, America’s Bailout Barons: Taxpayers, High Finance, and the CEO Pay Bubble.Scott Klinger is an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.Javier Rojo is the Institute's New Mexico Fellow. He recently completed his undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico. As a student, he conducted research on Mexico’s drug war and co-founded the Latin America Sustainability Association.

Eight of the biggest U.S. technology companies added a combined $69 billion to their stockpiled offshore profits over the past year, even as some corporations in other industries felt pressure to bring cash back home.

Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Google Inc. and five other tech firms now account for more than a fifth of the $2.10 trillion in profits that U.S. companies are holding overseas, according to a Bloomberg News review of the securities filings of 304 corporations. The total amount held outside the U.S. by the companies was up 8 percent from the previous year, though 58 companies reported smaller stockpiles.

The money pileup, reflecting companies’ incentives to park profits in low-tax countries, has drawn the attention of President Barack Obama and U.S. lawmakers, who see a chance to tap the funds for spending programs and to revamp the tax code. That effort is stalled in Washington, and there are few signs that tech companies will bring the profits back to the U.S. until Congress gives them an incentive or a mandate.

“It just makes no sense to repatriate, pay a substantial tax on it,” said Joseph Kennedy, a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a policy-research group whose board of directors includes executives from Microsoft and Oracle Corp. “Computing and IT companies especially have a lot of flexibility in where they declare their profits.”

Apple, Google

Microsoft, Apple and Google each boosted their accumulated foreign profits by more than 20 percent over the year, the largest increases by any of the 34 companies with at least $16 billion outside the U.S. International Business Machines Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Oracle, Qualcomm Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. each added at least $4 billion.

The profits added by the eight technology companies accounted for 45 percent of the net gain in overseas funds among the corporations surveyed. At the same time, firms in some other industries felt enough pressure to meet domestic needs that they chose to take the tax hit by bringing money home.

Duke Energy Corp., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, took a $373 million tax charge against earnings in February as part of a plan to get access to $2.7 billion in accumulated foreign profits. Stryker Corp., a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based maker of medical devices, is planning to repatriate $2 billion this year.

Apache Corp., a Houston-based oil and gas company, had $17 billion indefinitely reinvested overseas at the end of 2013. Now, it has none.

“The company made the decision to utilize international cash to pay down U.S. debt and grow its North American operations,” Castlen Kennedy, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

GE Leads

General Electric Co. topped the list for the fifth straight year. The company now has $119 billion outside the U.S., an increase of 8 percent from the end of 2013 and a 27 percent gain since 2010.

By contrast, Microsoft has more than tripled its offshore holdings since 2010. Apple, which counts only part of its non-U.S. holdings as indefinitely held offshore, increased that portion to $69.7 billion from $12.3 billion in 2010. Cisco now has $52.7 billion outside the U.S., up 10 percent since 2013.

Microsoft referred back to 2012 Senate testimony by Bill Sample, its vice president for worldwide tax. Sample said then that the Redmond, Washington-based company is “fundamentally a global business” and that U.S. law creates a disincentive for U.S. investment.

Google referred to a December 2013 letter that the Mountain View, California, company sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It said Google needs $20 billion to $30 billion for future acquisitions outside the U.S., $12 billion to $14 billion for foreign subsidiaries’ share of developing intellectual property and $2 billion to $4 billion for capital expenditures.

John Chambers, Cisco’s chief executive officer, said on Bloomberg TV on Feb. 20 that his company is investing in India, Israel and France in the absence of U.S. tax law changes.

“I’d prefer to have the vast majority of my employees here,” Chambers said. “And our tax policy is causing me to make decisions that I don’t think is in the interest of our country, or even in our shareholders, long term.”

The Bloomberg analysis covers 304 large U.S.-based companies that are required to report annually how much they hold outside the country in profits, which isn’t the same thing as cash.

Won’t Repatriate

It’s a measure of accumulated profits, including those reinvested in active businesses and factories. The companies say they won’t repatriate these profits, and they haven’t assumed that they will pay future U.S. taxes that would be owed if they did.

“One of the reasons that they’re holding the hoards of cash abroad is they don’t want to pay the repatriation tax when they bring it back,” said Rosanne Altshuler, a Rutgers University economist who studies international taxation.

The analysis starts with corporations in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and excludes purely domestic firms, real estate investment trusts and companies with headquarters outside the U.S. It includes each company’s most recent annual report, many of which were filed over the past month.

The companies owe taxes at the full U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent on profits they earn around the world. They get tax credits for payments to foreign governments and don’t have to pay the residual U.S. tax until they bring the money home.

"Offshore Incentive"

Keeping money overseas is particularly easy for technology and pharmaceutical companies whose profits stem from intellectual property that can swiftly be moved.

“It’s very easy to place a patent in another country and accrue the income there,” Altshuler said. “They’re very sensitive to differentials in corporate tax rates.”

Gilead Sciences Inc., for example, reported that it held $15.6 billion outside the U.S. as of Dec. 31, up from $8.6 billion a year earlier. That’s because the intellectual property for the company’s blockbuster drug -- Sovaldi -- was in Ireland before the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2013.

Corporations that rely on intellectual property -- trademarks, logos or patents -- have an advantage over heavy industrial companies and the financial industry, which relies on providing services to customers, said Jennifer Blouin, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“You can’t move an oil rig out of certain jurisdictions,” she said. “You can’t shift the service income without moving the people.”

Shareholder Obligation

Companies have a duty to their shareholders and they’re responding logically to the incentives in the system, Kennedy said. “Companies are strongly driven by the need to increase shareholder value, and especially any public company has to meet market expectations,” he said.

Whatever the reasons, the potential tax revenue from offshore profits is tempting to U.S. lawmakers, who have been struggling to fund road projects and revamp the tax system.

Obama and top Republicans on the tax-writing committees say they won’t repeat a 2004 law that gave companies a voluntary repatriation holiday with a 5.25 percent tax rate.

The one-time tax would generate $268 billion over six years, which Obama wants to use for infrastructure.

Because the one-time transition tax is levied on past earnings, it doesn’t distort companies’ decisions, Altshuler said. The real questions are the rate and the details of the tax system for future earnings.

Obama’s plan hasn’t advanced in Congress, amid Republican objections to some of the details and the idea of using one-time money for needs such as highway construction.

The president met March 2 with the chief executive officers of Xerox Corp., Micron Technology Inc., Qualcomm, IBM and EMC Corp., which have a combined $114 billion in accumulated offshore profits.

“The president and the executives also discussed a shared desire to work with Congress to enact pro-growth, business tax reform,” the White House said in a statement.

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About Me

I am a citizen defending the people against corrupt Pols who only serve their Corporate Elite masters, not the people! / My 2 political enemies are Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., nicknamed "Luciforo" and former Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr. /
I have also pasted many of my political essays on "The Berkshire Blog": berkshireeagle.blogspot.com
/ I AM THE ANTI-FRANK GUINTA! / Please contact me at jonathan_a_melle@yahoo.com

50th Anniversary - 2009

Paul Capitanio, left, speaks during Monday night's Ward 3 City Council debate with fellow candidate Melissa Mazzeo at Pittsfield Community Television's studio. The special election (3/31/2009) will be held a week from today (3/24/2009). The local issues ranged from economic development and cleaning up blighted areas in Ward 3 to public education and the continued remediation of PCB's.

Hookers for Jesus

Forever personalized stamped envelope

The Forever stamp will continue to cover the price of a first-class letter. The USPS will also introduce Forever personalized, stamped envelopes. The envelopes will be preprinted with a Forever stamp, the sender's name and return address, and an optional personal message.

Purple Heart

First issued in 2003, the Purple heart stamp will continue to honor the men and women wounded while serving in the US military. The Purple Heart stamp covers the cost of 44 cents for first-class, one-ounce mail.

Dolphin

The bottlenose is just one of the new animals set to appear on the price-change stamps. It will serve as a 64-cent stamp for odd shaped envelopes.

Brady, Bundchen married

Mayor Jimmy Ruberto

Tanked Pittsfield's local economy while helping his fellow insider political hacks and business campaign contributors!

Journalist Andrew Manuse

www.manuse.com

New Hampshire Supreme Court Building

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_Supreme_Court

Economic State of the Union

A look at some of the economic conditions the Obama administration faces and what resources have already been pledged to help. 2/24/2009

President Barack Obama

The president addresses the nation's governors during a dinner in the State Dinning Room, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari).

The Oscars - 2/22/2009.

Hugh Jackman and Beyoncé Knowles teamed up for a musical medley during the show.

The 81st Academy Awards - Oscars - 2009

Hugh Jackman pulled actress Anne Hathaway on stage to accompany him during his opening musical number.

Rachel Maddow

A Progressive News Commentator

$500,000 per year

That is chump change for the corporate elite!

THE CORPORATE ELITE...

Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and chief executive of General Electric

The Presidents' Club

Bush, Obama, Bush Jr, Clinton & Carter.

5 Presidents: Bush, Obama, Bush Jr, Clinton, & Carter!

White House Event: January 7, 2009.

Bank Bailout!

v taxpayer

Actress Elizabeth Banks

She will present an award to her hometown (Pittsfield) at the Massachusetts State House next month (1/2009). She recently starred in "W" and "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," and just signed a $1 million annual contract to be a spokesmodel for Paris.

Joanna Lipper

Her award-winning 1999 documentary, "Growing Up Fast," about teenaged mothers in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Happy Holidays...

...from "Star Wars"

Massachusetts "poor" economy

Massachusetts is one of the wealthiest states, but it is also very inequitable. For example, it boasts the nation's most lucrative lottery, which is just a system of regressive taxation so that the corporate elite get to pay less in taxes!

Reese Witherspoon

Hollywood Actress

Peter G. Arlos.

Arlos is shown in his Pittsfield office in early 2000.

Turnpike OK's hefty toll hikes

The Pink Panther 2

Starring Steve Martin

Police ABUSE

I was a victim of Manchester Police Officer John Cunningham's ILLEGAL USES of FORCE! John Cunningham was reprimanded by the Chief of Police for disrespecting me. John Cunningham yelled at a witness: "I don't care if he (Jonathan Melle) is disabled!"

John Edwards and...

Rep. Edward J. Markey

Cindy Sheehan

She gained fame with her antiwar vigil outside the Bush ranch.

Olympics kick off in Beijing

Go USA!

Exxon Mobil 2Q profit sets US record, shares fall

In this May 1, 2008, file photo, a customer pumps gas at an Exxon station in Middleton, Mass. Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, July 31, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results were well short of Wall Street expectations and its shares fell as markets opened. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File) 7/31/2008.

Onota Lake 'Sea Serpent'

Some kind of monster on Onota Lake. Five-year-old Tyler Smith rides a 'sea serpent' on Onota Lake in Pittsfield, Mass. The 'monster,' fashioned by Smith's grandfather, first appeared over July 4 weekend. (Photo courtesy of Ron Smith). 7/30/2008.

Al Gore, Jr.

Al Gore issues challenge on energy

The Norman Rockwell Museum

Stockbridge, Massachusetts

"Big Dig"

Boston's financially wasteful pork barrel project!

"Big Dig"

Boston's pork barrel public works project cost 50 times more than the original price!

Mary E Carey

My favorite journalist EVER!

U.S. Rep. John Olver, state Sen. Stan Rosenberg and Selectwomen Stephanie O'Keeffe and Alisa Brewer

WALL-E

Crisis in the Congo - Ben Affleck

Jeanne Shaheen

NH's Democratic returning candidate for U.S. Senate

"Wall-E"

a cool robot

Ed O'Reilly

www.edoreilly.com

Go Celtics!

World Champions - 2008

Go Red Sox!

J.D. Drew gets the same welcome whenever he visits the City of Brotherly Love: "Booooooo!"; Drew has been vilified in Philadelphia since refusing to sign with the Phillies after they drafted him in 1997...

TV - PBS: NOW

The Twilight Zone

Equality for ALL Marriages

I, Jonathan Melle, am a supporter of same sex marriages.

Kobe Bryant leads his time to a Game 5 victory.

L.A. Lakers holds on for the win to force Game 6 at Boston

Mohawk Trail

The 'Hail to the Sunrise' statue in Charlemont is a well-known and easily recognized landmark on the Mohawk Trail. The trail once boasted several souvenir shops, some with motels and restaurants. Now only four remain. (Caroline Bonnivier / Berkshire Eagle Staff).

NASA - June 14, 2008

Space Shuttle Discovery returns to Earth.

Go Celtics! Game # 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals.

Boston took a 20-second timeout, and the Celtics ran off four more points (including this incredible Erving-esque layup from Ray Allen) to build the lead to five points with just 2:10 remaining. Reeling, the Lakers took a full timeout to try to regain their momentum.

Sal DiMasi

Speaker of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives

Kelly Ayotte - Attorney General of New Hampshire

http://doj.nh.gov/

John Kerry

He does not like grassroots democracy & being challenged in the 2008 Massachusetts Democratic Party Primary for re-election.

NH Governor John Lynch

Paul Hodes

Portland Sea Dogs

New York

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New Hampshire

Carmen Massimiano

"Luciforo" tried to send me to Carmen's Jail during the Spring & Summer of 1998.

Kay Khan - Massachusetts State Representative

www.openmass.org/members/show/174

Luciforo

Andrea F Nuciforo II

B-Eagle

Pittsfield's monopoly/only daily newspaper

Jon Lester - Go Red Sox!

A Red Sox No Hitter on 5/19/2008!

Go Red Sox!

Dustin Pedroia & Manny Ramirez

U.S. Flag

God Bless America!

Jonathan Melle's Blog

Hello, Everyone!

Molly Bish

We will never forget!

Go Celtics!

Celtics guard Rajon Rondo listens to some advice from Celtics head coach Doc Rivers in the first half.

Go Celtics!

Celtics forward Kevin Garnett and Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace embrace at the end of the game.

Go Red Sox!

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon calls for the ball as he charges toward first base. Papelbon made the out en route to picking up his 14th save of the season.

Go Red Sox!

Red Sox starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka throws to Royals David DeJesus during the first inning.

Go Red Sox!

Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka delivers a pitch to Royals second baseman Mark Grudzielanek during the second inning.

Go Red Sox!

Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew is welcomed to home plate by teammates Mike Lowell (left), Kevin Youkilis (2nd left) and Manny Ramirez after he hit a grand slam in the second inning.

Go Red Sox!

Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell crosses the plate after hitting a grand slam during the sixth inning. Teammates Manny Ramirez and Jacoby Ellsbury scored on the play. The Red Sox went on to win 11-8 to complete a four-game sweep and perfect homestand.

JD Drew - Go Red Sox

www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/05_22_08_sox_royals/

Thank you for serving; God Bless America!

Master Sgt. Kara B. Stackpole, of Westfield, holds her daughter, Samantha, upon her return today to Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee. She is one of the 38 members of the 439th Aeromedical Staging Squadron who returned after a 4-month deployment in Iraq. Photo by Dave Roback / The Republican.

Mary E. Carey

Velvet Jesus

Mary Carey blogs about my political writings. This is a picture of Jesus from her childhood home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. -//- "How Can I Keep From Singing" : My life goes on in endless song / Above Earth's lamentations, / I hear the real, though far-off hymn / That hails a new creation. / / Through all the tumult and the strife / I hear its music ringing, / It sounds an echo in my soul. / How can I keep from singing? / / Whey tyrants tremble in their fear / And hear their death knell ringing, / When friends rejoice both far and near / How can I keep from singing? / / In prison cell and dungeon vile / Our thoughts to them are winging / When friends by shame are undefiled / How can I keep from singing?

Sara Hathaway

Rinaldo Del Gallo III

Rinaldo Del Gallo III

Very Intelligent Political Activists in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Rinaldo Del Gallo, III, Esq. is the spokesperson of the Berkshire Fatherhood Coalition. He has been practicing family law and has been a member of the Massachusetts bar since 1996.

Mayor Ed Reilly

He supports Mayor Ruberto & works as a municipal Attorney. As Mayor, he backed Bill Weld for Governor in 1994, despite being a Democrat. He was joined by Carmen Massimiano & John Barrett III, the long-standing Mayor of North Adams.

The Flag of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

State Senator Stan Rosenberg

Ellen Story

Amherst Massachusetts' State Representative

Teen Pregnancy in Pittsfield, Mass.

Books are being written on Pittsfield's high teen pregancy rates! What some intellectuals do NOT understand about the issue is that TEEN PREGNANCIES in Pittsfield double the statewide average by design - Perverse Incentives!

NH Governor John Lynch

Supports $30 Scratch Tickets and other forms of regressive taxation. Another Pol that only serves his Corporate Elite Masters instead of the People!

U.S. Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter

The first woman whom the People of New Hampshire have voted in to serve in U.S. Congress

U.S. Congressman Paul Hodes

A good man who wants to bring progressive changes to Capitol Hill!

Paul Hodes for U.S. Congress

New Hampshire's finest!

Darth Vader

Star Wars

Dick Cheney & George W. Bush

The Gruesome Two-some! Stop the Neo-Cons' fascism! End the Iraq War NOW!

WAROPOLY

The Inequity of Globalism

Bushopoly!

The Corporate Elite have redesigned "The System" to enrich themselves at the expense of the people, masses, have-nots, poor & middle-class families

George W. Bush with Karl Rove

Rove was a political strategist with extraordinary influence within the Bush II White House

Tom Brady

Rupert Murdoch

George Stephanopolous

Robert Redford

Meryl Streep

Plays a jaded journalist with integrity in the movie "Lions for Lambs"

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise plays the Neo-Con D.C. Pol purely indoctrinated by the Corporate Elite's political agenda in the Middle East

CHARLIZE THERON

"I want to say I've never been surrounded by so many fake breasts, but I went to the Academy Awards."

Amherst Town Library

Amherst, NH - www.amherstlibrary.org

Manchester NH Library

I use the library's automated timed 1-hour-per-day Internet computers to post on my Blog - www.manchester.lib.nh.us

Manchester NH's Palace Theater

Manchester NH decided to restore its Palace Theater

Pittsfield's Palace Theater

Pittsfield tore down this landmark on North Street in favor of a parking lot

Pleasant Street Theater

Amherst, Massachusetts

William "Shitty" Pignatelli

A top down & banal State House Pol from Lenox Massachusetts -- A GOOD MAN!

The CIA & Mind Control

Did the CIA murder people by proxy assassins?

Skull & Bones

Yale's Elite

ImpeachBush.org

I believe President Bush should be IMPEACHED because he is waging an illegal and immoral war against Iraq!

Bob Feuer drumming for U.S. Congress v John Olver in 2008

www.blog.bobfeuer.us

Abe Lincoln

The 16th President of the USA

Power

Peace

Global Warming Mock Giant Thermometer

A member of Green Peace activist sets up a giant thermometer as a symbol of global warming during their campaign in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007. World leaders launch marathon negotiations Monday on how to fight global warming, which left unchecked could cause devastating sea level rises, send millions further into poverty and lead to the mass extinction of plants and animals.

Mike Firestone & Anna Weisfeiler

James Pindell

U.S. History - Declaration

A 19th century engraving shows Benjamin Franklin, left, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman at work on the Declaration of Independence.

Boston Globe Photos of the Week - www.boston.com/bostonglobe/gallery/

Sybregje Palenstijn (left), who plays Sarah Godbertson at Plimouth Plantation, taught visitors how to roast a turkey on a spit. The plantation often sees a large influx of visitors during the holiday season.

Chris Hodgkins

Another special interest Berkshire Pol who could not hold his "WATER" on Beacon Hill's State House!

Most of Boston's Big Dig highway remains closed, after a woman was crushed when 15 tons of concrete fell from a tunnel ceiling onto her car. (ABC News)

Jane Swift

Former Acting Governor of Massachusetts & Berkshire State Senator

Paul Cellucci

Former Massachusetts Governor

William Floyd Weld

$80 Million Trust Fund Former Governor of Massachusetts

Mike Dukakis

Former Governor of Massachusetts

Mary E. Carey

Amherst, Massachusetts, Journalist and Blogger

Caveman

www.ongeicocaveman.blogspot.com

Peter G. Arlos

"The biggest challenge Pittsfield faces is putting its fiscal house in order. The problem is that doing so requires structural changes in local government, many of which I have advocated for years, but which officials do not have the will to implement. Fiscal responsibility requires more than shifting funds from one department to another. Raising taxes and fees and cutting services are not the answer. Structural changes in the way services are delivered and greater productivity are the answer, and without these changes the city's fiscal crisis will not be solved."

James M. Ruberto

"Pittsfield's biggest challenge is to find common ground for a better future. The city is at a crossroads. On one hand, our quality of life is challenged. On the other hand, some important building blocks are in place that could be a strong foundation for our community. Pittsfield needs to unite for the good of its future. The city needs an experienced businessman and a consensus builder who will invite the people to hold him accountable."

Wonder Women

Wonder Women

I'm with the resistance!

Mayor Linda Tyer

Malala Yousafzai

66 million girls around the world are deprived of their right to learn. Raise your voice to empower girls through education and help them achieve their full potential. Join Malala. www.malala.org

Second Bill of Rights

Economic Justice

A Wonderful Life

George Bailey fought for the disadvantaged and made his community a better place to live.

American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial

Thank You to Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Inequality

The rich get richer, while everyone else gets screwed!

Human race

I am a human being first.

Inequality

The rich get richer, while everyone else gets screwed!

War Pigs! End War!

Why do we have wars? Because we are ruled by an elite group of psychopaths who own the banks that control the government and media. They fund both sides of war for profit and they manufacture the consent of the public through the propaganda of the media.

The Corporate Elite

We are pawns!

Truth

Protect Social Security and Veterans' Benefits.

Government Shutdown

Autumn of 2013

Financial Inequity

The rich get richer, while the poor get screwed. August 8, 2013.

Chained CPI

Obama lied! In 2008, Obama said he would not cut Social Security benefits. In 2013, Obama proposed the Chained CPI to reduce Social Security & Veterans benefits, while also raising middle class taxes.

Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama

Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stands by President Obama's side as he signs a Presidential Memorandum Wednesday (1/30/2013) institutionalizing the State Department's Office of Global Women's Issues - an office created under Obama and Clinton in 2006, and now a permanent part of the State Department. Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global women's issues, joins us (Andrea Mitchell Reports) today at 1pm ET to talk about Clinton's legacy. (Official White House Photo)

Congresswoman Ann McLane Kuster

Annie Kuster represents New Hampshire on Capitol Hill.

President Obama

Barack Obama inauguration January 21, 2013.

Global Warming

What will Earth be like 100 years from now in 2113?

NH Women Delegates

Senator Kelly Ayotte joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Representatives-elect Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster, and Governor-elect Maggie Hassan at a forum this morning focused on New Hampshire's "First in the Nation" female delegation.

Washington Leaders

Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, President Obama, and Harry Reid meet in the White House Cabinet Room in 2011.

Hug

U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton & Barack Obama.

Washington, D.C.

Jefferson Memorial

Mt. Greylock summit

Jennifer Beverly's photo.

POW*MIA

September 21, 2012, is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. We pay tribute to all who have bravely served, and must never forget the men and women who did not come home.

Pittsfield Mayoral Candidates

In the red

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is seen Monday, Aug. 22, 2011 in Washington, ahead of its dedication next weekend. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A Bronx Tale

Starring Chazz Palminteri

Rick Perry

He is a candidate for U.S. President in 2012 who appeals to voters as a fiscal and anti-big government Republican, and also as someone who can rally the Evangelical and socially conservative base. Mr. Perry said that Americans, “will not sit back and accept our current misery.” “A great country requires a better direction,” he said on the site, and “a renewed nation requires a new president.”

Tricia Farley-Bouvier

FDR

Richard Cordray

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will regulate the banking industry to protect the financial interests of the middle class.

Law School

From 1989 to 2009, when college tuition rose by 71 percent, law school tuition shot up 317 percent.

North Street Pittsfield Massachusetts 1850

North Street, as it was more than 160 years ago. The town hadn’t built its first courthouse (to be completed in 1871), fought in the Civil War, or seen the wonders of electricity -- introduced for the first time in 1885. Herman Melville was hard at work on ‘Moby-Dick’ at Arrowhead, and the new high school was just a year old. (Eagle file)

Michele Bachmann

Another Republican candidate for U.S. President in mid-2011.

Jon Huntsman

A candidate for U.S. President on the Republican ticket in 2012.

"Hangover #2"

From left, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong and Bradley Cooper are shown in a scene from 'The Hangover Part II.'

Go Bruins

2011 Stanley Cup Finals

LeBron James

The best basketball player in 2011.

President Barack Obama

Will Obama win re-election in 2012? I am going to vote for Obama again! (REUTERS/Jim Young)

Deval Patrick & John Kerry

"Santa is real"

North Adams, Massachusetts

This picture of the Hadley Overpass was my view from my late-grandmother's parlor window on West Main Street in North Adams.

American Politics

U.S. House of Representatives Chamber of Congress

Nature's paintbrush

NH's autumn, in all its glory

Ken Feinberg

"In the aftermath of 9/11, President Bush tapped Feinberg to oversee a federal fund compensating victims’ families. Last year [2009], President Obama put him in charge of deciding on pay plans for executives at banks that needed federal bailouts. And when BP agreed last week to set aside $20 billion to compensate those hurt by the company’s oil spill, it was inevitable that Obama would turn to Feinberg to oversee the fund." - A Boston Globe Editorial; June 21, 2010. (Essdras M Suarez/Boston Globe Staff)

Superman statue

Metropolis, Illinois

British Polluters

Gulf oil spill of Spring of 2010.

Seagull

Darren O'Brien of Somerville captured this gull from the bridge to Charlestown this April (2010). The best views of Boston: www.boston.com/thingstodo/gallery/bostonviews?pg=9

High-Tech Money

New $100 bill unveiled on April 21, 2010.

NH's Stamp

The Granite State's postage stamp; 2010.

Stegosaurus

A roadside dinosaur outside of The Berkshire Museum in dowtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Red Sox

Go Boston Red Sox in 2010!

Justin Coussoule

Adams (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, native and 8th Congressional District of Ohio 2010 candidate against Republican House Minority leader John Boehner. Coussoule, 35, is a former U.S. Army captain and a lawyer. He is for job creation and stimulation of the economy. He said the working middle class needs jobs in the midst of the economic downturn, and the government can help facilitate that through investment in infrastructure, health care and job training programs.

New Hampshire Partisans

Republican State Party Chair John H. Sununu and Democratic State Party Chair Ray Buckley debate last night (April 5, 2010) at the Bedford Village Inn. (GREG KWASNIK)

Anita F. Hill

A politically controversial and well-known advocate of civil rights and women’s rights.

One of Pittsfield's finest!

Astronaut Stephanie Wilson will make history Monday (April 5th, 2010) when she becomes part of the record for the most women in space at one time. (Berkshire Eagle file).

President Barack Obama's and Democrats' Health Care Reform Bill

The $938 billion health care bill will expand coverage to 32 million more Americans. Starting this year, insurance companies would be barred from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions, and the bill would close the "doughnut hole" on prescription drug benefits for older Americans. But many of the other provisions in the bill will not take place until 2014, including requiring most Americans to have health coverage. (AP Graphic) 3/22/2010 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/health-care-bill-obama-sign-bill-tuesday/story?id=10169801&nwltr=politics_featureMore

Expanded Healthcare - Spring 2010

If approved, the health-care bill being considered by Congress will dramatically expand health coverage and change the way millions of Americans get health insurance. A look at how things work now, and how they would work under the health bill for specific categories of people: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/what-health-bill-means-for-you/?hpid=topnews Timeline: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/health-care-overhaul-timeline/

Gasoline Price Trends

www.boston.com/business/specials/gasprices/

Celtics guard Ray Allen launches a 3-pointer

Photo by Matthew West (Boston Herald Online) March 7, 2010

usdebtclock.org

www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Financial Reform 2010

mainstreetbrigade.org - support the creation of a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

MCLA Celebrates 115 Years

Financial system in crisis

Elizabeth Warren on the Economy: www.pbs.org/now/shows/546/index.html (online video). The Dow Jones industrial average is now up 68 percent from a 12-year low of 6,547.05 on March 9, 2009. It's still down 22 percent from its October 2007 peak of 14,164.53. The Dow Jones closed near 11,000 points on Friday, April 9, 2010.

Imports over Exports

The U.S. trade deficit rose in September (2009) by the largest percentage in a decade.

Jimmy Stewart

US Unemployment

US unemployment jumped to double digits in October for the first time since 1983 to 10.2 percent (Autumn 2009)

Jack Welch

"I hope the elections in those two states will slow the speed at which we are attacking climate change, financial regulations and health care. We can’t just pile up deficits and restructure the entire economy in 12-18 months. It’s not doable. It’s insane.”

Finance "Reform" dispute

Big Bird turns 40

Sesame Street, the award-winning children's series, is celebrating 40 years on the air with a Big Bird birthday celebration. November 5, 2009.

NO Thank You!

Unfortunately, Mayor Jimmy Ruberto won a 4th term as Mayor of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Tuesday evening, November 3, 2009.

John Kerry

Halloween 2009

Dwyane Wade

One of basketball's best players EVER!

The biggest meatball EVER!

Nonni's Italian Eatery's 222.5-pound meatball was authenticated as the world's largest after being weighed by state weights and measures officials. 11/1/2009.

Stimulus Jobs

U.S. map shows jobs created or saved related to federal contracts by the economic stimulus program, by county. Stimulus jobs by state & counties: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/wdc/stimulus_jobs/index.html?SITE=OHALL2

Economic Stimulus Plan

New data showed that President Barack Obama's stimulus plan saved or created between 650,000 to one million jobs.

Daniel E. Bosley

The "bureaucRAT" in his younger years as State Representative. Go to: www.topix.com/forum/state/ma/TIHALPNP6D5M47C77

Pittsfield Mayor James M. Ruberto

Ruberto looks at challenger Dan Bianchi. He stated "We already have a voice in Boston ... and it is recognized as a voice of progress." 10/30/2009.

Lou Dobbs

Fights for working & middle class American Citizens!

Saturn

Sunlight casts long shadows across the planet's rings.

Mass. jobless

Westfield State College presented honorary Doctor of Public Service degrees on 9/26/2009

Seated from left, John Barrett III, Mayor of North Adams and longest serving mayor in the Massachusetts; John H. Fitzpatrick, former state senator, and Jane Pratt Fitzpatrick, longtime trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berkshire Theatre Festival; and Jane Swift, first woman governor of Massachusetts; standing from left, Robert Hayes, Westfield State College vice president for Academic Affairs; Richard Wilson Riley, former U.S. Secretary of Education for eight years under President Clinton and the ceremony's keynote speaker; Westfield State President Evan S. Dobelle, and Dawn C. Thomsa of the college Board of Trustees.

TV consumption

#1 in U.S. of America

The healthy Truth

Paul Pierce joined former President Bill Clinton and Usher at the Clinton Global Initiative on 9/24/2009.

Paul G. Kirk Jr.

Interim U.S. Senator from Massachusetts will temporarily fill the late Ted Kennedy's seat. He is surrounded by fellow US Senator John Forbes Kerry & Governor Deval Patrick on 9/24/2009.

John Edwards through time

Mike Dukakis

Massachusetts Politics - www.massitsallhere.com

The Big Lebowski

www.boston.com/ae/movies/gallery/top_cult_films/

The Big Lebowski

Jeff Bridges is the Dude and John Goodman is Walter in the “The Big Lebowski,’’ which was released to mixed reviews in 1998. www.lebowskifest.com - www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2009/09/15/the_big_lebowski_spawns_its_own_subculture

Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady

Pumpkins & Apples

Drew Barrymore

She makes her big-screen directorial debut with the roller derby dramedy: “Whip It”.

9/11/2009

President Obama marks the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America.

Jail is a sad place for people

"Luciforo" tried to jail me during the Spring & Summer of 1998. www.luciforo.blogspot.com

Eagle

Fly like an eagle!

Boom to bust

The mortgage security market lost over 80% of its holdings in 2008. Private markets support less than 5 percent of the new mortgages used to buy homes. Take the government out of the housing market, in other words, and there is no market.

Daisuke Matsuzaka

Edward M Kennedy

Turtle

Back 2 School

Concert Stars

James Taylor and Sheryl Crow chat following a rehearsal at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall on Monday. Taylor and Crow will perform with Yo-Yo Ma in sold-out shows Friday (8/28) and Saturday (8/29/2009) nights in The Shed. (Darren Vanden Berge / Berkshire Eagle Staff)

USPS Postage Stamp Price History

Go to: http://images.ibsys.com/2009/0511/19426452.jpg

Arches

America's National Parks

"Chocolate"

My best doggy friend!

Soldier Stress

The Army is tackling rising suicide rates, divorce, and depression among thousands of soldiers returning from war.

Bat

A baseball bat

Bat

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official holds a little brown bat. (File photo / The Republican)

William Howard Taft & son

US Presidents like to vacation in New England during August

Adam Sandler

Hollywood comedian - native of Manchester, New Hampshire

Powerball

The biggest lottery or tax on the poor scheme in America!

U.S. President Barack Obama for Children's Health

Obama listens to a healthcare professional as part of a roundtable discussion on healthcare during a visit to the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC in July 2009.

Theodore Roosevelt (1900)

President Barack Obama's campaign for a health care overhaul is an intense installment in a long-running story, dating to Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. It did not go well nearly a century ago. Roosevelt made national health insurance an issue in his last, losing campaign for the White House, and successive efforts to get it enacted have lost, too.

Health Care

Graphic shows health care expenditures as a percentage of GDP.

The White House

Jonathan Melle: Future U.S. President

The Great Debaters

Denzel Washington (far left, who also directed the film) plays Melvin B. Tolsen, a debate coach and professor at the historically black Wiley College in Texas in the 1930s, whose team struggles against racial tension as they dominate their debates. Pictured from left: Denzel Washington, Jurnee Smollett, Nate Parker, and Denzel Whitaker. (2007).

Dead Poets Society

Robin Williams (standing on desk) plays John Keating, a charismatic English professor at the fictional Welton Academy, an all-male boarding school in Vermont. His nontraditional teaching methods (standing on desks, ripping pages from books) inspire his students but ultimately land him in hot water with the school administration. (1989). - www.boston.com/ae/movies/gallery/schoolfilms?pg=9 - O Captain! My Captain! - www.bartleby.com/142/193.html - Walt Whitman (1819–1892).

Cooling Down

Seal on ice. On Boston's hottest day of the year, the city declared a heat emergency. Above, Ursula at the New England Aquarium blocked off time to just chill. 8/18/2009.

"The Problem We All Live With," Norman Rockwell, 1963. Illustration for Look, January 14, 1964.

Pre-emptive War (for Oil)

Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized Former President George W. Bush for being more conciliatory on national security issues after the 2004 election. Bush fired Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and made diplomatic overtures to North Korea and Iran.

Home Foreclosures Up

The escalating foreclosure crisis continued to outpace government efforts to limit the damage.

Boston-based investment giant

State Street Corporation is currently under investigation for allegedly misleading pension funds and other investors about the risks of their bond funds due to an an overreliance on mortgage-backed securities.

The President holds a 4 year old girl

The President holds Candace Rosemary O'Donnell, 4, from Portsmouth, as he greeted the crowd after speaking at a town hall meeting at Portsmouth High School on Tuesday, 8/11/2009. (AP).

Lisa Ball shows her support of Healthcare Reform

Supporters of Healthcare Reform gathered outside a town hall meeting on health-care held by President Obama Tuesday (8/11/2009) in Portsmouth, N.H.

Health-Care Reform 2009

Earth

Peace on Earth & Human Rights for All Peoples!

Queen of FEAR!

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who blasted President Barack Obama's health care proposals as "evil," saying in a statement that the plan would include a bureaucratic "death panel" that would decide who gets assistance. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Michael Nagle). NOTE: President Obama stated that the provision that has caused the uproar would only authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling patients about end-of-life care, living wills, hospice care and other issues, if the patient wants it.

Horrors of War!

Denis E Guyer

Horrors of War

A President for Peace through diplomacy & finance

www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/gallery/073009_whvisits?pg=7 - In September 1993, President Bill Clinton (center) met with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left), and Yasser Arafat (right), chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. At the meeting, Rabin and Arafat signed the Oslo Accords, a major breakthrough for Israeli-Palestinian peace, and shook hands - the first public handshake between the two former enemies.

A President for Peace through military strength & supply-side economics

www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/gallery/073009_whvisits?pg=3 - President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev shook hands at a arrival ceremony on the White House South Lawn in December 1987, six months after Reagan, in Berlin, implored Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." The wall in question, which split the city in two, fell less than two years after this handshake.

A President for Peace through Human Rights

www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/gallery/073009_whvisits?pg=6 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (left), President Jimmy Carter (center), and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (right) clasped hands on the north lawn of the White House after signing an Egypt-Israel peace treaty on March 26, 1979, at the White House. Carter focused greatly on Middle East peace, an issue that would be pursued by succeeding presidents.

foodincmovie.com

www.takepart.com

Natalie Portman

The Harvard-educated actress has been cast as Jane Foster, the first love of Thor.

A 2-day-old giraffe calf

The baby calf giraffe was born at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston on 7/23/2009 and stands 6-foot-4, and weighs 164-pounds. (We share the same birthday date, but not year).

Bill Russell

The best NBA Basketball Center EVER hugs the greatest NBA coach EVER!

Red Auerbach

A Celtics Basketball Champion!

Kareem shoots over the Chief

Great Centers of NBA Basketball

Robert Parish shoots over Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Great Centers of NBA Basketball

Park Square in 1899

A little know secret: The center of the Universe is in Pittsfield, Massachusetts!

Money for Goldman Sach but NOT for Universal Healthcare

The Rich Get Richer while the Middle Class & Poor Go Without Healthcare Insurance!

Remembering Walter Cronkite

Among the many honors Mr. Cronkite received during his career were several Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, a George Polk Journalism Award and, in 1981, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor. Cronkite retired in 1981. - www.boston.com/news/obituaries/061909_cronkite?pg=7

Einstein

STOP FRANK GUINTA!

A single man blocks a column of PLA tanks east of Tiananmen Square in Beijing June 5, 1989

June 4th, 2009, marked the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown on student protesters gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. Beginning in April of 1989, thousands of students and other citizens started gathering in groups large and small, protesting many issues, centered on a desire for freedom and democratic reform. By mid-May of 1989, hundreds of thousands of protesters occupied the square, staging hunger strikes, and asking for dialogue. Chinese authorities responded with a declaration of martial law, and sent soldiers and tanks from the People's Liberation Army, preparing to disperse the crowds. Late on June 3rd, 1989, the tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled into the square, killing and wounding many, mostly civilians - estimates vary widely, from several hundred to several thousand dead. Photo by REUTERS/Arthur Tsang.

Ann McLane Kuster

NH Democrat Politician, Lawyer, Lobbyist, for NH's 2nd US Congressional District race in 2010. Her commitments are to make quality healthcare afforable, protect abortion rights, and increase New Hampshire's involvement in the alternative energy industry.

President Barack Obama for Human Rights!

President Obama laid a rose at a memorial at the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp on Friday. His great-uncle helped liberate a sub-camp of Buchenwald. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times) 6/5/2009.

Ted Gatsas

Leslie A Kirwan

MASS. STATE HOUSE - its facade and Corinthian columns are covered by sports banners (mid-May 2009).

"Governor Patrick: Take down the banners!" - James J. Callahan Jr. of West Newton, Massachusetts. www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2009/05/16/its_the_state_house_not_a_stadium/

Dogs

Man's best friends

Time-Travel Paradoxes

Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock, left, and Chris Pine as James T. Kirk in "Star Trek".

To tell the origin stories of Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew.

Actors shown in a scene from "Star Trek" - from left, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, Chis Pine as James T. Kirk, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, John Cho as Sulu and Zoe Saldana as Uhura.

NOT SEXY

Cigs & Cancer

Justice David Souter

The United States Supreme Court

Edward MacDonald

Adams, Massachusetts

Celestial wonders

''Io Erupting,'' photographed by the Galileo probe, shows the Jupiter moon in all its color.

New Hampshire

The Granite State

Boston Red Sox

Go Red Sox in 2009!

Happy Earth Day 2009

Go Green like Yoda

Transformers

Go Autobots!

Transformers

Optimus Prime in 2009

Denis E Guyer

Dalton State Representative

General David Petraeus

Gen. Petraeus predicts things will get worse in Afghanistan (4/21/2009).

V for Vendetta

Freedom Forever!

Celebrating the democracy of dance

The power of dance to express the full range of human experience.

NH Governor John Lynch's new home

The Lynch family's sprawling, 11,094-square-foot, federal-style home in Hopkinton can only be described as magnificent. The new home of Gov. John Lynch sits on 7.85 acres in Hopkinton and was recently assessed at almost $3 million. (BOB LAPREE). 4/3/2009.

Unemployment #'s UP!

The Number of Unemployed Americans Could Fill 76 Super Bowl Stadiums. 4/3/2009.

Capitanio wins race for Pittsfield City Council

Paul J. Capitanio gets a hug from his sister Ann Capitanio Tuesday night at the Italian-American Club after learning that he won the Ward 3 City Council race. (Darren Vanden Berge / Berkshire Eagle Staff) 4/1/2009